Twinkies back on shelves

Wal-Mart first to welcome Hostess’ cakes

Less than a year after Hostess Brands announced that the idyllic snack cake would cease to exist, a revamped company is once again pumping out the cream-filled cakes.

And if you’re lucky, you can buy them today.

In an arrangement with Wal-Mart Stores, the new Hostess company released “first batch” Twinkies to the national chain store on Friday – three days ahead of every other retailer. According to CNN Money, they’ll be on 1,600 Wal-Mart store shelves for the weekend, and in 3,000 Wal-Mart stores by Monday.

A Manteca Wal-Mart manager refused to comment on the arrangement citing the company’s media policy, but did say that “Twinkies are back, people are excited and so are we.”

According to some reports, it won’t just be Twinkies that will once again be appearing on store shelves.

By Sunday, according to Fortune, Wal-Mart will roll out the first batch of Hostess’ new fried fruit pies, mini muffins and cupcakes. Popular treats like Ho Ho’s, Zingers and Suzy Q’s will arrive in stores by August. Coconut-covered Sno Balls are expected to become available by the late fall.

The goodies haven’t been manufactured since the company filed for bankruptcy and planned to liquidate in November after a crippling strike. The company was bought out for $410 million by a private equity group, and production was continued.

Not long after it was announced that Hostess would fold, boxes of Twinkies and other popular treats ended up selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay. The rush on the goods cleaned store shelves of all Hostess products in a matter of days.

Grocery chains had initially expected to sell Twinkies on Monday, but put them on shelves when the inventory arrived early.